The XO Interview: Evie Dunmore
On The Gentleman's Gambit and happy endings for harpies
The closest thing I have ever felt to professional jealously is reading Evie Dunmore novels. I’m in awe of how she combines my two great loves—historical romance and the women’s rights activism—into exquisitely written novels. But even better than writing them is getting to read them! For fun! I’ve also had the pleasure of hanging out with Evie and she is just lovely in real life. For this interview, we chatted about finding pockets of happiness, the challenge of HEAs in Victorian England, and her newest novel, The Gentleman’s Gambit.
How did you first discover the romance genre? Which book was The One for you?
I found my first romance novel by chance when I was 17. I was visiting with family friends, and in my room, the daughter’s old room, I dropped something next to the bed. As I picked it up, I noticed a brown paperback under the bed. It was rude of me, but the bag-contents looked book-shaped, so I had to look inside. This is how HEARTS AFLAME by Johanna Lindsey fell into my hands. I read it twice in 24 hours. I had been a huge bookworm but until that day I hadn’t come across a romance novel and I was an instant fan. Because those were the days before Kindle, I didn’t read another romance for a couple of years because I lacked the courage to carry a bodice ripper cover to a till. Bless. I eventually picked up POTENT PLEASURES by Eloisa James, and later, NINE RULES TO BREAK by Sarah MacLean. Everything snowballed from there. But I will always fondly remember HEARTS AFLAME.
Your brilliant series, The League of Extraordinary Women, combines all of my favorite things: strong female friendships, the fight for women’s suffrage, and of course romance! How did you come across the women’s suffrage movement and get the idea to make it core to a romance series?
The series started out as love story. The first characters I heard were Annabelle and Sebastian from the first novel, Bringing Down the Duke. It was soon clear that I was looking at a love story that couldn’t be due to class-differences. I love happy endings though, so I decided to write these two a romance. It dawned on me that the traditional “happy ending”, namely, marriage, wasn’t very romantic in the context of Victorian England. I had taken two gender politics classes during my undergrad, so I dimly recalled that women lost their legal personhood as well as a bunch of rights upon marriage, and as such also the qualification to vote (voting rights were property dependent then). I felt I had two choices if I wanted to go ahead and set a romance in that environment: ignore these realities, or work with them. I decided to make the heroines women’s rights activists. I dug deeper into the suffrage movement and realized a lot of the activists seemed quite happily married, or partnered, so a happy ending for a “harpy” seemed well possible.
Your new book—and the last book in the series—is The Gentleman’s Gambit. It pairs the brainy and bookish Catriona with the “distractingly attractive” Elias who has come to England from the Middle East secretly intent on retrieving stolen artifacts housed at Oxford. Catriona agrees to share her expertise and from there it’s onto sexy chess games, stolen kisses and other shenanigans. What else can you tell us about these characters and their romance?
Catriona is introverted, emotionally intense, and hurt by previous romances that hadn’t worked out. She tells herself she doesn’t need love, but I guess hope dies last. Elias is a ray of sunshine, mostly, who moves effortlessly between worlds but deep down has begun longing for a home. The connection between them is interesting; because of their scandalous meet-cute, they can never interact from a normal, proper place of conduct, they have this outrageous little secret between them. Both are passionate people in their own way, so one thing leads to another even though there are a dozen reasons why they shouldn’t be together. It was fun to write two characters who are such polar opposites but still match on important points and values.
You are very adept at writing feminist historical romance with HEAs even though your heroines are fighting hard to change marriage laws that were a terrible deal for women. What a conflict! Without any spoilers, I think you did this particularly brilliantly with A Rogue of One’s Own. What are your thoughts on balancing reader expectations for an HEA with the truth about 19th century marriage?
I believe that the convincing ending for a couple is the authentic and organic consequence of their unique relationship dynamic and their characters. Just because marriage is still the pinnacle of romance for many people doesn’t mean it’s the suitable happy ending for a particular couple. For Annabelle, marriage wasn’t a terrible deal because she was unprotected and permanently low on funds in a world that was extremely hard on single, impoverished women. Marrying a duke who had proven his love for her was a wholly sensible decision from her perspective and Annabelle was mostly a sensible character. Lucie is somewhat financially independent and much more of a fervent idealist, so for her, her ending with Tristan makes sense. And for Hattie, the away-with-the-fairies romantic, turning her idealization of marriage upside down at the start of the story was part of her growth that otherwise might not have happened. Also, humans seem to have the ability to still find pockets of happiness even when realities are terrible. Our society is still patriarchal. Women usually notice it clearly as soon as children enter the picture. A lot of marriages don’t last due to resentment over uneven workloads and external pressures, but some manage to carve out lasting love stories despite it all. I believe it was no different for our ancestors 150 years ago.
How do romance novels give you joy?
I love falling in love alongside the characters, to just feel all the feels, the angst, the adventure. Sometimes, I learn new things about a certain time or event which is always a great plus for me.